Mich. Basketball Barred From Postseason

LARRY LAGE

Published
7:00 pm CDT, Thursday, May 8, 2003

AP Sports Writer

The seven-year saga involving Michigan booster Ed Martin and the Wolverines' basketball program is over. Almost. The Wolverines were barred from the next postseason and put on probation for 3 1/2 years by the NCAA on Thursday for Martin's payments to players dating to the Fab Five era.

The team also will lose one of its 13 annual scholarships for four years, beginning in 2004-05.

Last year, Michigan imposed self-imposed sanctions, including holding itself out of the NCAA tournament. The NCAA committee on infractions called the school's penalties "meaningful" but not enough.

Essentially, the story and the scandal would be over, but Michigan decided Thursday to appeal the NCAA's postseason ban. The school expects to have a decision on the appeal this fall.

"I don't think the cloud hangs any longer because I see the sunshine," Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman said. "We're moving forward with a great program, but we're taking this last step because we owe it to our current players and program.

I asked myself, `How long do they have to pay that they had nothing do with?' It's a legitimate concern because a central tenant of the NCAA is that there fairness in penalties imposed and the question we'll be asking is, `Is this fair?' We just like another committee to look at it."

As grounds for the appeal, school administrators cited an NCAA bylaws that states, "An important consideration in imposing penalties is to provide fairness to uninvolved student-athletes, coaches …"

The involvement Michigan had with the now-deceased Martin came to light after a rollover accident on Feb. 17, 1996.

Maurice Taylor, a current Houston Rocket, crashed his truck during Mateen Cleaves' official recruiting visit while they were returning from a party in Detroit. Cleaves ended up leading Michigan State to the 2000 national championship.

When Michigan learned that Cleaves' recruiting visit included a visit to Martin's house, the school began to investigate his ties to the basketball program.

After pleading guilty a year ago to conspiracy to launder money, Martin told the federal government that he lent $616,000 to current Sacramento Kings star Chris Webber, Taylor, Robert Traylor and Louis Bullock. Taylor plays for the Charlotte Hornets and Bullock is playing professionally in Europe.

"This is one of the most egregious violations of NCAA laws in the history of the organization," NCAA Committee on Infractions chairman Thomas Yeager said. "The reputation of the university, the student-athletes and the coach as a result of the basketball team's accomplishments from 1992 through 1998 were a sham."

Martin said he gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to former Wolverines basketball players while they were in high school and college. He died in February _ on the same day Michigan officials met with the infractions committee.

Michigan hoped the NCAA would accept its self-imposed sanctions, including the removal of four banners from Crisler Arena and any pictures, words or records in printed materials involving Webber, Taylor, Traylor and Bullock; forfeits of 112 regular-season and tournament victories from five seasons, plus its victory in the 1992 NCAA semifinals; the return of $450,000 to the NCAA from tarnished postseason appearances.

The NCAA penalties include a directive that the university must disassociate itself from Webber, Taylor, Traylor and Bullock for 10 years. Michigan can't accept contributions from the four former players, ask them to help recruit or provide them with any benefits or privileges.

"I will always pull for Michigan," Webber said Thursday night before playing and being hurt against Dallas in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals. "I didn't do anything, so I don't feel sorry for them. I don't really know what to say."

Webber is to face trial in July on charges of obstruction of justice and lying to a federal grand jury about Martin.

"There's a whole trial left to determine what happened," Webber said.

Michigan's woes extended to the court early last season, with the first 0-6 start in school history. But then the Wolverines won 13 straight games for the first time since 1987-88 and it started 6-0 in the Big Ten.

Michigan finished tied for third in the conference with Michigan State and Purdue, which both made the NCAA tournament.

The NCAA would allow rising senior Bernard Robinson to leave for another school without sitting out for his final season, but the forward is not expected to transfer.

"When Coach (Tommy Amaker) said we had an opportunity to leave and play somewhere else he was the first one to say he was staying," sophomore guard Daniel Horton said of Robinson.

"He said he was not going anywhere and that there is no sense in whining and crying about it because we have been here before. We had this meeting last year and there were a lot of tears last year. … Nobody was crying about this Wednesday night."